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Composting is defined as the biological decomposition and stabilization of organic substrates under aerobic conditions to allow the development of thermophilic temperatures. This thermophilic temperature is a result of biologically produced heat. Composting produces the final product which is sufficiently stable for storage and application to land without adverse environmental effects. There are many factors which affect the decomposition of organic matter in the composting process. Since the composting process is very intricate, it is not easy to estimate the effect of a single factor on the rate of organic matter decomposition. This paper looked at the main factors affecting the composting process. Problems regarding the controlling, inactivation and regrowth of pathogen in compost material are also discussed., Proceeding UMT-MSD 2009 Post Graduate Seminar 2009. Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysian Student Department UK & Institute for Transport Studies University of Leeds. pp: 78-87; ISBN: 978-967-5366-04-8

The relatively low concentration of pathogen indicators, such Salmonella, in composting sometimes causes a problem with detection when using the conventional techniques. The presence of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) organisms is also a potential problem with Salmonella detection when using conventional techniques. In this study, the molecular approach for organism recognition, known as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), was used for characterisation the Salmonella spp. used as inoculums in composting. This study also provides a better understand about selecting the suitable primer for Salmonella spp. The specificity of the probes and primers at the species level were verified by performing NCBI-BLAST2 (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool). Primers that target the invA gene for Salmonella were selected which produce fragment lengths around 285bp (shown in Figure 1). The Salmonella spp. solutions were tested and proved contained the sequences of invA gene by using several steps of molecular techniques before used it as inoculums in composting. The laboratory scale batch composting reactors were used to examine the inactivation of Salmonella spp. The inoculate solution of Salmonella was prepared by culturing Salmonella enteritidis (ATCC13076) in tryptone broth solution for 24 hours before adding it directly into the compost material. The reduction rate of Salmonella spp. was enumerated by conventional method accordingly to the standard compost guidelines (Figure 2). The laboratory scale study showed that after composting for 8 days the numbers of Salmonella spp. were below the limits in the UK compost standard (PAS 100) which requires the compost to be free of Salmonella spp., ORBIT 2010 International Conference of Organic Resources in the Carbon Economy. Crete, Greece

An accurate method for enumerating pathogen indicators, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Salmonella spp. is important for assessing the safety of compost samples. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of pathogen indicators in compost samples by using a molecular approach known as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The DNA sample was extracted from sewage sludge compost. The specificity of the probes and primers at the species level were verified by performing NCBI-BLAST2 (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool). Primers that target the gadAB gene for E.coli and invA gene for Salmonella spp. were selected which produce fragment lengths around 670bp and 285bp respectively. The primers were tested against bacterial cultures of both species and produced a strong signal band of the expected fragment length. It provided results within 6 hours which is relatively rapid compared to conventional culturing techniques. The other advantages of PCR are shown to be its high sensitivity, and high specificity., Proceeding of Twelfth International Waste Management and Landfill. Sardinia 2009 Symposium

Accurate enumeration of Salmonella spp. is important for assessing whether this pathogen has survived composting. Recent literature has reported that enumeration of Salmonella spp. using standard microbiological methods has a numbers of disadvantages, particularly the time taken to obtain a result. This research is an attempt to develop a rapid, low-cost detection method that is quantitative, highly sensitive and target specific. This paper reports the development of a DNA fragment that can be used to quantify Salmonella spp. by competitive polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) targeted at the invA gene of Salmonella (PCR primers that target the invA gene are reported to have very high specificity for Salmonella strains). It is shown that cPCR, which could be completed in 5 hours, could quantify the number of copies of the Salmonella invA gene in a sample solution., Comment: Proceeding of Twelfth International Waste Management and Landfill. Sardinia 2009 Symposium

The survival of Salmonella spp. as pathogen indicator in composting was studied. The inoculums technique was used to gives the known amounts of Salmonella spp. involved in composting. The inoculums of Salmonella spp. solution was added directly into the compost material. The direct inoculum was compared with inoculums in vial technique. The Salmonella spp. solution placed into a vial and inserted into the middle of compost material before starting the composting process. The conventional method that is used for the enumeration of Salmonella spp. is serial dilution followed by standard membrane filtration as recommended in the compost quality standard method PAS 100 and the British Standard (BS EN ISO 6579:2002). This study was designed to investigate the relationship of temperature and contact material that may also involve in pathogen activation specifically to Salmonella spp. The exposure to an average temperature during composting of about 55-60{\deg}C was kept for at least 3 days as it was reported sufficiently kills the vast majority of enteric pathogen (Deportes et al., 1995). The amount of Salmonella spp. and temperature for both samples was set as indicator to determine the survival of Salmonella spp. in direct and non-direct inoculums. This study gives the figures of die-off rate for Salmonella spp. during composting. The differentiation between direct contact (Sample A) and non-contact of Salmonella spp. with compost material (Sample B) during composting was also revealed. The results from laboratory scale of composting study has been showed that after 8 days (which included at least at 66{\deg}C) the numbers of Salmonella spp. in Sample A were below the limits in UK compost standard (known as PAS 100)(BSI, 2005) which required the compost to be free of Salmonella spp. Meanwhile, Sample B still gives high amount of Salmonella spp. in even after composting for 20 days., Comment: ORBIT 2010 International Conference of Organic Resources in the Carbon Economy. Crete, Greece